Jump to content

*** The Official Boston JWFan Meeting ***


Ren

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 186
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The official card given to someone who hopefully delivered it to Mr. Williams.

img_0723.jpg

img_0705.jpg.

Neil

OK, it is "The offical JWFAN Meeting"

Great idee Neil.

Andreas (Admin)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think your meeting was nice but it was no "The offical JWFAN Meeting"

You are correct. It was the 1st OFFICIAL JWFAN GET TOGETHER

Indysolo has nothing to announce here  ROTFLMAO

Don't I, Andreas? Don't I?

Hehe, sorry Neil.  :sigh:

So you should be. :)

So here is the official rundown of the weekend by Neil S. Bulk. It's long and pretty detailed, but I really wanted to get the essence of this trip shared with everyone.

My flight to Boston was great. It was short and I slept on it. When I got to the baggage claim, my luggage was already there. Then I got on a hotel shuttle and got to my hotel and then I checked in immediately. This was 10:30 in the morning. Then the first snag occured. I was asked how many keys I wanted and I said two, one for me and one for my roommate "Ray Barnsbury" who would be arriving later in the day. I was promptly informed the room only had one bed. Priceline guarantees double occupancy, just not two beds. They offered to upgrade me to a room with a queen size bed but that still didn't sound appealing and it was on a smoking floor. No thanks. Then they offered to bring in a roll-away bed. That was fine with me.

After waiting awhile the roll-away bed was delivered and I felt the need to go out and explore Boston. I walked around, wound up in a 7-11 where I bought a Slurpee and a hot dog. I then made my way to Boston Public Gardens, where I sat on a bench, ate my food, enjoyed the beautiful weather, talked to some people on the phone (including "Diskobolus"!), listened to a crazy woman talk to herself and her stuffed tiger on the bench next to mine and watched the squirrels running around. It was gorgeous out and made me realize that a vacation really is needed once and awhile. Also while I was just strolling around in Boston Renovia called to tell me she was on her way to the hotel.

I then headed back to the hotel to shower and shave and get ready for the concert (sorry no photos were taken of this). That's when "Ray Barnsbury" showed up to the room. "Ray" is one of the nicest guys you're ever going to meet. I don't think he had a bad thing to say ever and he was a lot of fun to be around. We clicked right away. I can tell you that on Friday night, I think at any time, at least one of us was whistling "The Dementors Converge". We got along really well, and I hope we get to do this again sometime, sooner rather than later.

After "Ray" arrived, Renovia and her friend Pat showed up to the hotel. We met them downstairs a little later. I think Pat was initially a little wary of "Ray" and me. Afterall, Renovia had never even met us, couldn't we be scary psychos or worse? Well I don't think it took long for Pat to warm up to us. She tolerated our gushing and even got into the spirit of things.....a little bit. As I understand it, she did some sketches during the concerts and I hope Ren is able to scan them in and share them with us.

Anyway, after we scarfed down our dinner (Ren was asking us for the time constantly, which was fine since I was anxious, too), we went to Symphony Hall where we met up with "Diskobolus" who knew just where Williams was going to be. I swear, he must have some sort of sixth sense. We're waiting outside the "Performer's Entrance" where there is a big empty coach bus parked. We're all talking and getting to know one another when an employee from Symphony Hall comes out and tells the bus driver he has to move. This is about the time we realized that something good could happen. But until then we were entertained by the bus driver insisting he was there to pick up kids from some program going on inside Symphony Hall, which the Symphony Hall employee didn't know anything about. There was a lot of "well I have my job to do" going back and forth. Eventually, the bus moved a little, and that's when a certain black Lincoln Town Car, license plate number "BSO-1" pulled up, not far from where we were standing. Sharpies in hand, cameras ready to go, Mr. Williams got out of the car. He immediately acknowledged our prescence and smiled and made a little excited gesture. To put it succinctly, we all got at least one autograph but "Ray" was the only one of us that night fortunate enough to get a photo with Mr. Williams.

img_0686.jpg

After this I called my dad and then my mother, I was psyched.

Now a few words about Symphony Hall. It's much smaller than I expected, but the acoustics are great. I was also a little disturbed by the behavior there. I've been going to live concerts since I was 4 years and I was always taught to keep silent during a concert. Apparently, Symphony Hall prefers to serve drinks during concerts and during the first half waiters and waitresses are constantly walking around opening bottles and serving customers. It was a bit disorienting and a bit disrespectful for those who wanted to hear the music without the cacophony of clumsy concert goers dropping glass bottles. Oh, also it now seems its standard operating procedure to have at least one cell phone go off nearby nowadays, too.

But the music was excellent. I won't detail everthing, just the moments that made an impact (good or bad) on me. The concert opened up with "The Death Hunt" from On Dangerous Ground, by Bernard Herrmann. I only first heard this in October, when Esa-Pekka Salonen performed it at the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall at the same concert "Soundings" premiered. Since then, it has become a favorite piece of mine. Hearing it live was truly a treat. This piece is a tour de force for the entire orchestra, but particularly the brass and percussion sections. It's a rousing way to start a concert. I noticed that for such a fast paced piece, Williams hardly moved during it. I can only imagine what Ricardo Muti or Leonard Bernstein would look like conducting it.

Also that night we heard some selections from Harry Potter. "Fawkes the Phoenix" was played beautifully. We also heard "Nimbus 2000" which is a piece played exclusively by the woodwind section. I didn't like it when I first heard it live in July and I didn't like it this time either. He finished up the Harry Potter section with "Harry's Wondrous World". I love this piece, but Williams only seems to play the version officially released on the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack, the one with the revised ending that is all bombast and not very good bombast at that. I much prefer the simpler ending heard in the first film. I also noticed during it that we were hearing several live Williams "BOOM-Tzzzzz's". That made me smile.

At the first intermission (there were 2 that night) "Ray", "Diskobolus" and I all met up in a pre-arranged spot just to talk. It was later, during the second intermission, that Renovia and Pat joined us here. We were also visited by a very nicely dressed guy that has a very weird obsession with all things Rupert Murdoch. It turns out it was "Foxfan"! Another JWFan member to join our little group!

Some more Williams music was played in the 2nd act of the evening, with Tamara Smirnova as violin soloist. Naturally Schindler's List was played as was Fiddler on the Roof and Far and Away. Since Williams did not personally introduce the pieces, we didn't hear the "Dead Composers" anecdote. We also were never told we may miss the news or that E.T. had "little friends".

The third part of the evening was devoted to Henry Mancini. I enjoy his music, but to me it always seems to have a popular flavor to it. For some reason I have a tough time taking it seriously, but there is no denying the man's ability and the music played was all very good. Williams joked that he played the piano on the original recording of Peter Gunn when he was 12.

After the Mancini music the thunderous applause and standing ovation brought Williams back for the first of two encores. "Ray" and "Diskobolus" vocalized an interesting phenomenom that I also experienced in Philadelphia last year. What happens is, Williams starts conducting "The Raiders March". While any Williams fan can name that tune in 1 note, it takes the rest of the audience about 10 seconds to realize what is actually being played, to which they burst out in applause, while the piece is being played. Its nice that they eventually recognize the music and enjoy it, but I'd rather hear the music and not the sound of 10,000 hands clapping. I can hear that afterwords. The same thing happened with "Flying" from E.T., the second encore of the evening. Williams does his best to settle down the audience. I think a random execution would work better though. As a side note, on the second night, Williams played "The Raiders March" as an encore again and some guy behind me said it was Star Wars, then it was E.T. and finally he correctly guessed Raiders of the Lost Ark. I'm not sure, but if Peter Gunn had not been printed in the program, I think he would have been convinced it was "The James Bond Theme".

After the first night, we all followed "Diskobolus'" sixth sense and waited outside the green room, as per his instuctions. It was there I met a person named "Ricardo". Apparently he's registered here but never posts. Ricardo, if you read this, please don't be a stranger. After waiting a long time, an employee told us that Williams would typically leave at another exit if we were hoping to meet him. I looked over at "Diskobolus" who quietly nodded "no", and he was right, Williams did eventually come out to see us, but he said he had a long day and that he would be back the next night. "FoxFan" mentioned the site (would he have done this if the trip was unofficial?) and mentioned we'd love to have a group photo. Ricardo also congratulated Williams on getting the honorary degree earlier in the day. Williams' acknowledged this and it was really cool to almost have a conversation with him. And the fact that he personally told us he wasn't up for anything that night was really cool. A genuine class act.

After some more photos were taken outside Symphony Hall Renovia, Pat, "Ray" and I took a taxi back to our hotel. The women changed (sadly not in front of "Ray" and me) and then we all wound up at Bennigans for drinks and dessert. This was fun and I know Ren got some great pictures from this. After Bennigans we went to the hotel lounge for some more drinks, some more laughs and some more great photos. I can't remember what time all this ended. Maybe 2 or so in the morning. All I can tell you was that this a was a great deal of fun, but what's done in Boston stays in Boston. Or something like that.

Day 2 started with a bang. Or at least a knock. Maybe a tap. It was 9 am and house keeping was at the door. This was 30 minutes before I had my alarm set to go off. I then flopped back into bed only to be woken again by Ren calling me on my cell phone. She wanted to get breakfast so "Ray" and I had to get ready. It turns out Renovia and Pat are the only 2 women in the world who are actually punctual and since "Ray" didn't answer my cell while I was showering Ren and Pat went out without us. Ren gave surprisingly good directions though and a short subway ride later and we all met up at Fanuil Hall and Quincy Market.

As beautiful as Friday was though, Saturday was the polar opposite, and I do mean polar. It was freezing out. It also was overcast and threatening to rain at any second.

A word about Quincy Market to any man that goes there. Be prepared to be bored out of your friggin skull. Now I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself. The alternative was being stuck in New Jesrey working. I much preferred the cold boring Boston day. But the multitude of clothing stores and the total lack of record or book stores made time almost come to a crawl. Fortunately "Ray" and I had a lot to talk about, so that was good. I also found a working copy of the arcade machine "Galaga" at a toy store and played it through level 16. I'm the "Galaga" king! This toy store also had a Harry Potter made entirely of Lego and they were showing Philosopher's Stone. I got to hear my preferred ending of "Harry's Wondrous World" as the end titles played. Also made of Lego in the store was a full size Jango Fett which would have been realy cool, except it was Jango Fett.

After Ren and Pat finished shopping we went back to the hotel. After being out all afternoon and waking us in the morning, house keeping had not been by our room, not that I minded, but just making an observation. Ren then called me and wanted to know if I wanted to call everyone's favorite red-headed Dutchie. Of course. This was a great opportunity to speak with someone I've never actually talked to. After several attempts trying to figure out how to call internationally we found out Ren's phone service doesn't offer that service. I eventually bought a phone card that got us a 7 minute telephone call with Mr. Stefan Cosman. It was quite possibly the best $18+ I ever spent. Though there seems to have been a weird delay that caused some confusion, not to mention I didn't understand Steef at first when he said he was "Hans Zimmer", this went very well. You know how Steef is at this board? Apparently he's the same way on the telephone, too. It was really funny and again we had a great time. And let me publically apologize for bastardizing your name Stefan. Apparently it's pronounced "Stay-fun" and not "Ford".

Also I should point out that just before we called Steef, I had previously bought a blank card and Ren, "Ray" and I came up with a message to write inside of it to present to Mr. Williams. You can see the card and the text earlier in this thread. We also all took turns signing it and any members of the board we met at the concert later in the evening also signed it. I really hope he got that card.

After the phone call with Steef, "Ray" and I decided to go up to our room to rest up and listen to some music while Renovia and Pat did some more shopping. So naturally house keeping is now finally in our room. This only took about 20 minutes, I just thought it was funny.

After an hour or two we all met up for dinner, which we all decided we should do early so that we're not rushed and we can actually enjoy our food. The first restaurant we went to had a 30 minute wait which was pushing things a little close. We then crossed the street and went to a very nice Irish pub which had delicious food. I think it was called "M.J. O' Connells". Either way, it was really good.

We then went back to Symphony Hall for our second concert. Again we met up with "Diskobolus" outside the performer's entrance and this time we also met "Strongbad" who was waiting to meet Williams, as well as some other fans. There was a gentleman there with several LP jackets to get signed including Star Wars and Jaws 2. Sadly he doesn't have access to the net, so he doesn't post here. Maybe someday he'll find us. This time Williams' car turned on the one way street and drove right past us, pulling into a different entrance. Then, with traffic on this one way street, we watched the beautiful Lincoln do the most insane thing I have ever seen a car do. The driver backed down the road, not at a nice leisurely pace, but really fast. Clearly this was the act of a madman. He then opened the trunk (we joked with him that he can let Mr. Williams out of there now) and brought in what I guess to be Williams' tuxedo for the evening. Not entirely crushed that we missed out on meeting Mr. Williams again, we then decided to have our pictures taken with "the Williams car". Hey, it's better than nothing.

This concert was very similar to the one we heard the night before. I'm not going to complain though. I don't think I can ever get tired of hearing "The Death Hunt". They also played some Herrmann music from the films of Alfred Hitchcock. This got to be a little frustrating. First the good. "Scene D'Amour" from Vertigo is a great piece, and it was performed beautifully. But I had problems with both Psycho and North By Northwest. They were both performed to video, and many times the music did not match up to where it was supposed to be. For instance they played the main titles over a badly cut section of the movie starting with Marion seeing her boss on the street. It ended with her getting into the shower and then suddenly the films sound effects came on. Funny, just the night before Williams said it's a pleasure to conduct the music without sound effects and dialogue. And then the shower scene was horiffically cut and during the murder music, the visual images just turned into a summary of the movie. This was pretty bad. With North By Northwest they started playing the main theme over the crop dusting sequence, one of the most famous non-scored sequences. I also wasn't happy with the arrangement of NxNW. I'm also going to say that I really don't like video being shown at a concert, as I find the image distratcs me from concentrating from hearing the music. It takes a lot of will power to block out what's being shown on the big screen in the front. There was also a technical problem at the beginning of Psycho. Apparently the small monitor Williams needed to view was not working, so he had to ask for it to be fixed and to start over again. He commented that this always happens in Hollywood.

At the end of this concert we all met up outside the green room again. This time we were joined by none other than Jim Wa....I mean John Takis (pronounced Tay-kiss) and "Trumpeteer"! John had met Williams just the other night and this was "Trumpeteers" first Williams concert ever. Sadly, it was just not meant to be. Williams never came out to have his photo taken with us. I wasn't upset though. People that I've been talking to on-line for years were all hanging out together having a great time. After we exited Symphony Hall Ren and Pat took a cab back to the hotel, while John offered to drive "Ray", "Diskobolus" and me to the hotel. Between the 4 of us we more or less were able to find our hotel. It was a great JWFan moment. The four of us in John's car listening to Prisoner of Azkaban discussing out favorite tracks. Sadly, when we parked the car "The Dementors Converge" was just starting, so we didn't get to hear my favorite cue. We then met up with Ren but not Pat. It seems she had a pinched nerve but Ren, being the outgoing soul that she is, made fast friends with a woman in the elevator and invited her to dinner with us. Surprisingly this woman (who's name I forget) didnt seem to mind us at all. Again, a fun night was had by all. There were a lot of laughs. After Bennigans we went back to the hotel lounge where we just able to get in an order for drinks (at least the ones who were over 21 were able to). I'm not sure what time we were there until, but I know at some point we had to leave. Ren and "Diskobolus" came up to our room to hang out. Ren stayed until about 3:30 and then "Diskobolus" crashed on the only remainging part of the floor in our hotel room. We wound up staying up until about 5 am, but by then I was exhausted and I fell asleep pretty quickly.

Ren and Pat left early Sunday morning so I never did officially get to say good-bye to Pat. Ren, please pass on to her that I had a lot of fun on this trip and that I really enjoyed meeting her. Again, also if you can get some of her sketches scanned in, I'm sure we'd all love to see them.

"Ray" and "Diskobolus" and I went out for breakfast around 10 and then just "Ray" and I went back to the hotel to check out. We then took a shuttle back to the airport and that's when the really fun started. Imagine having a rookie and his instructor driving you through the streets of Boston. At one point the instructor had this great bit of advice for the driver, "Thats not cargo back there, these are people, take it easy on the turns." "Ray" was fortunate enough to at least have a seatbelt.

Then I was at the airport, with some extra time to listen to music and reflect. I think you can judge how good a trip was by the amount of depression that sets in as you are going home. While I wasn't quite at an MIT student suicide level, I was still pretty down about going home. I played the score to Close Encounters and at one point I almost broke down in tears, but this wasn't because of any sort of depression. I love the score to Close Encounters and I know others really do share this love as well for John Williams and his music and this weekend demonstrated that to me in such a profound way, that I was overcome with emotion. I say this without any sense of hyperbole, but this was really hands down one of the best weekends I've ever had in my life. It really is a wonderful thing to get to spend time with friends and to have so many friends with such a strong common interest getting together and just hanging out and getting to really know one another. I realize that this weekend would not be possible without this site, and for that I want to thank Ricard for starting this great place and Andreas for hosting it.

We have to do this again next year and I hope even more people from this site can make it. Can you imagine the JWFan Episode III screening? It almost makes me want to see the movie.

Neil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post, Neil! It's really great that a number of JWFan members could have an "official" meeting. Sounds like it was a really good time, and here's to hoping it can happen again sometime.

Ted

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, that was a lovely read, Neil. Thanks for posting it and managing to slip in a few sly jokes here and there (much appreciated). I'm so glad you guys got to meet up and get along so well. ROTFLMAO Plus the card for John Williams was a lovely touch. How many MB members did you end up getting to sign it? Hopefully Williams got it in the end and wasn't left scratching his head and muttering "Wat ist 'jwfan.net?'" :sigh:

CYPHER - demanding more photos! And Ray, I hate to break it to you, but that's three photos of you I've seen and you look different in all three of them! LOL You're a changeling, I tell you! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was a nice. Good storytelling, Neil.

I've always wanted to meet someone at the Hollywood Bowl concerts, but nothing. I've met some folks, but they don't know about these internet communities. Jeron from MovieMusic once told me we should meet, but he never replied back. Someone else from this forum told me they had seen me at the 2002 70th birthday celebration, but did npot approach me, too bad. Even if my bad ass english speaking was somewhat a barrier, I would been happy to talk to someone.

I grew up watching John Williams conduct the Boston Pops, and I hope I get a chance to see Mr. Williams in that enviroment, a pops concert, preferebly one of those light classics program.

I do not know what is going to happen with my life, or others, but I hope one day to be at Boston Symphony Hall sooner rather than later, and enjoy the sight of Mr. Williams conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have to read this at school.

Chris, that is an AWESOME picture!!!!!!!! I HATE YOU>

At least my thread title stayed. .LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have to do this again next year and I hope even more people from this site can make it.  Can you imagine the JWFan Episode III screening?  It almost makes me want to see the movie.

Neil

Oh man, feels like I was there, almost there. Thanks for the extensive report, Neil!!!!!!!!!

And again, shame these get-togethers come about so far and away from here (my place of stay). Here's to hoping London 2005's concerts will be slightly more approachable for me, since I can't wait to experience it at least once in my life, one concert of JW's seen live, that's all I'm dying to see.

Hopefully Steef will be there too, and some European fans as well, since I'd like to meet as many as it gets. Perhaps it's mutual... LOL

Roman.-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the lowdown, Neil.

I saw the pictures that will be posted from Neil's camera. Some good stuff on there, though mostly of the "This is Ray and I waiting for room service to get out of our room so we can take a nap" variety.

Well, let me tell my version of "The Meeting That Never Was." As I walked down the steps to the place that diskobolus mentioned, I saw a tightly grouped bunch of people. I had noticed there was only one woman in that group, but being short she was blocked from complete view by John Takis. When I got tohe group, I didn't want to just say "Hello, guys!" and be told "Who the hell are you?" So I just stodd there, watching the door and waiting.

Then Neil introduced himself, and then introduced me to the others, including Ren. I almost wanted to pick her up and give her a big hug, she looked so beautiful. The others -- well, lets just say we weren't worthy to be in the prescence of Queen Renovia.

It was about 9:45 when we all started getting anxious. People kept walking in and out of the door. Diskobolus kept telling people, "Tell Mr. Williams that JWFan.net members are out here." As if that was going to get him out of his greenroom and flying out to meet us.

Neil was right; this was my first JW concert and the first time I would be seeing the man in person. I was nearly numb when he walked on stage during the concert, and unable to breathe as he talked about some of the music the Pops would be playing. I wanted toohang on to every word.

Now, standing among my friends (two of whom were getting Neil into a heated "AI" discussion) my legs were trembling. Not my knees. My legs. I thought I was going to buckle under the possibililty of shaking the hand of the greatest film composer ever. My friend Al, who drove up from Cape Cod to join me, said "he's just a regular guy, remember that." HA!

Well, at 10:15, a man came out to say Mr. Williams had a long day and was too tired to come out and meet us. By then just the JWFan people and a couple of others were there and the lights in every other part of the building were off. I tried not to get hysterical and remained calm as the group posed for one more photo.

As we walked out the door, I said goodbye to everyone as they climbed into taxis and other vehicles. Now knowing that John Takis had "POA" in his car, I'm glad I didn't tag along (waiting until the film release!!!!!!).

To ease the pain of not meeting Mr. Williams, I went to a bar near Northeatern U. and had a couple of drinks while Al and I waited for my friend to pick us up. Mentally drained from the past four hours, I just fell asleep some time around midnight.

Naturally, I'm coming back next year. London may not be a possibility, so another Pops concert, which might feature new "Star Wars 3" music, is on the agenda.

Jeff -- who wished he had been able to say hello to Steef

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My friend Al, who drove up from Cape Cod to join me, said "he's just a regular guy, remember that." HA!

Ignorant bastard! ROTFLMAO

Seriously, though, you guys all sound like you had a great time. I'm keeping my fingers severely crossed to go to London next year (can't give up hope yet).

Great to read all these reports. Hope to see some pictures soon. :sigh:

- Marc, jealous. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, i have a few minutes so here is my take on the weekend. Tonight I'll post all my pictures.

I got up and talked to Stefan on IM on Friday morning. After I finished picking up, I went to my old school to say hi, then I went to Pat's school and helped her out for the rest of the day. We left for boston around 3:15. I called neil and let him know that we were on the way and to expect us around 5.

Pat and I drove to Boston - got lost, got back to where we go lost, took the CORRECT turn and ended up at the hotel a tad before 5. I called Neil to say we got there. Pat and I checked in, they offered us either a room with one bed and no view or a suite with 2 sofa beds and a view - guess what we chose!

We freshened up, called Neil and met down in the lobby to go grab a bite to eat before the concert.

And Neil is correct - Pat and I were always on time.

We ate at Uno's - Pat, Me, Neil and Ray. I was overly concerned with the time as we arrived back at symphony hall too early. But we got great places next to where Williams would eventually be. You know the rest of that tale as Neil told you it already.

We liked the concert alot - were hoping to get another photo op, but no avail.

That night we took a taxi back and ate at Bennigan's. It was probably the only place around there that Ray could get into. Next day - the boys took too long to get ready so Pat and I left for shopping.

Neil and Ray eventually followed. We shopped for a bit, took the subway back. Dropped off our Mike's Pastries and Pat and I went back out - I wanted to go to Tiffany's. Ray and Neil stayed at the hotel. Pat and I came back, got ready for the symphony. We all went to the pub next door, had a nice relaxing dinner - with VINEGAR for our fries!!!! yum.

Went to the symphony again - met up with the same people from the night before (Disk and Foxfan), Strongbad was there too, no williams - but we got MANY MANY shots of the car.

I really enjoyed the music from the second concert. I thought the selections that were played both nights were much more emotional the second night.

After the concert - we waited, no williams. The gents couldn't make up their minds - the taxi honked, Pat and I left. John Takis brought disk neil and ray to bennigans. Pat had a pinched nerve so she didn't go. I met a nice lady (Maren) in the elevator and she came along too.

Both nights after Bennigans, we ended up in the hotel lounge chatting more. On Sat, we closed the lounge, they asked us to leave - as it was 2am. disk, ray, and neil and i went to ray and neil's room to chat. I stayed until after 3;30 - i think, then i went back to my room and fell asleep. i had to get up at 7 to drive back home that day. needless to say - i'm still tired.

i was very glad to meet everyone and i can't wait for people to post their picts - especially of sat night with all of us there.

Sorry you couldn't come back to bennigan's trumpeteer!~

ren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WOW, awesome picture Kevin, congrats!!! I'm liking the handshake. Augh, I'm writing my report as we speak, but I won't be able to finish it before work. It should be up sometime after 6 this evening. Great posts Neil, Jeff, and Ren, hopefully mine won't be too redundant! Are we going to wait until we have all our pictures and then post all the best ones sometime?

Ray Barnsbury

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think once we have our photos ready, we should post the best ones - but will attachments make the thread impossible to load? Should I make a webpage for us to use to view the files?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that's a good option. Or you could make one of those "free foto album" websites with just a gallery and throw everything on there. Adding attachments could be a problem. Another option is to PM the files as an attachment to yourself, and then post the pictures here with the "Img" tags.

- Marc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

k here are the options i think.

i could upload the files to the server here - like for the site education-jwmusic.net

i could upload them to OFOTO.com (free) and you guys can purchase prints of the pictures you like (i think 24 cents each).

I could pm them as attachments for me - but i don't know how many i can do at once - AND i wouldn't be able to get any pms, because it would probably take up the whole inbox.

what do you think? my picts are almost ready to go - i'm waiting to resize.

Ren

Thanks for the kind words Jeff - everyone i met from jwfan was awfully photogenic. . .;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I already wrote about Tuesday night, in Evening at Pops thread, and a photo of me and Williams is an earlier post.

On Friday, I got to Symphony Hall around 7:15, and even before I got to the corner I saw Neil and a group of people I supposed were Ren and Ray. Neil seemed to realize who I was before I introduced myself. I immediately realized that Neil, Ray, and Ren (and Pat) were all extremely cool and nice people and it was so great to meet them at last. While we waited for Williams to arrive in his Lincoln, we got to know each other and checked out what everyone else was getting signed. I had Chamber and Schindler's that night. Neil talked about the bus being in the way, but it's always funny watching two people clash when they're both "trying to do their jobs". The BSO employee was about to tell the bus driver to move when, uh oh, "It's too late. (You moron)." The black Lincoln came pulling up alongside the bus, and Williams had to pass this ugly motorcycle that was in the way before he got to the sidewalk.

Me - "Hi, Mr. Williams."

JW - "This is a really great pen." (takes my Silver Sharpie)

Me - (blathered on about how great Williams is)

Neil, Ray, and Ren proceeded to get autographs as well, but only Neil had the presence of mind to actually take photos at this point, hence the kick-ass photo Ray has with Williams. After he went in, everyone was basically euphoric about the meeting. We went into the hall and figured out where everyone was sitting, and arranged to meet downstairs for both intermissions. After the concert, we met in front of the green room and prepared to meet Williams again, but unfortunately he only came out to say he was tired and that we'd "do the group photo tomorrow night". At this point I left with my friends from school (whom I'd met up with at the hall, they missed the Death Hunt, fools) and said goodbye to everyone.

Saturday was hugely hectic for me since I was moving all my crap from school to my huose. I again got to the hall around 7, and met someone already waiting who turned out to be StrongBad. Another guy had way too many LP's he was trying to get signed. Ren, Ray, and Neil showed up not too long after. Oh, Ren had this awesome HPSS score she was going to get signed. There were some random people there as well, including this family with two kids that I think I scared by talking to them, and by the fact that all the rest of us arrived separately but seemed to know each other. Anyway, early on we saw that some BSO guy got into a Lincoln and went to pick Williams up, seemingly. Soon after, we saw another BSO car arrive with a singer who turned out to be none other than soloist Monica Mancini. At last, Williams' car turned onto the street, but kept driving around to the back entrance. We were disappointed by this, and as Neil noted, saw the insane driver back up at lightning speed, swerving around a car that was pulling into the street. The car stayed, and we got some great photos of the car, which will be posted later.

During the concert we again met Foxfan and this time John Takis. This is a nice photo of me and Ray:

me_and_ray_low_quality.jpg

After the concert, we again gathered outside the green room, joined by more members including Trumpeteer. Williams didn't come out, sadly, but Neil gave an employee the card to give to Williams, hopefully he got it. We snapped a few more group shots, and left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me - "Hi, Mr. Williams."

Good one. ;)

JW - "This is a really great pen." (takes my Silver Sharpie)

Wow........ 8O

Me - (blathered on about how great Williams is)

A true JWFan. ;)

Seriously though, good work all. You planted the mind control serum I trust? Williams will soon be paying us to sign our CD's. ;)

Justin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok, i can't resist - until i get home. here is one picture - i'll upload all of them tonight.

especially incriminating.

Ren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please forgive the poor quality of these photos. I didn't mess around much with lighting and the flash just added a glare.

Before...

before.jpg

After...

after.jpg

Neil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, how I wish I could have been there! You're so lucky to have met JW! Will there be other "jwfan" meetings? I want to come to the next one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

;)

Excellent, Marian!

This is great, I'm really happy that all you guys got to meet and have such a great time. The next one will have to be bigger!

Keep the pics coming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marian - expecting that to be official.

It will definatly be the official JWFan London Meeting. But that is no more official than the Official JWFan Boston Meetings. ;)

Justin -Who will go to neither. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will definatly be the official JWFan London Meeting. But that is no more official than the Official JWFan Boston Meetings. ;)  

I don't know.

In London you can see Ricard (I hope) and me. ;)

Andreas (Admin)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will definatly be the official JWFan London Meeting. But that is no more official than the Official JWFan Boston Meetings. :wave:  

I don't know.

In London you can see Ricard (I hope) and me. :P

Andreas (Admin)

And me! :mrgreen: I'll even bring a big L with me, probably ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It will definatly be the official JWFan London Meeting. But that is no more official than the Official JWFan Boston Meetings. :mrgreen:  

I don't know.

In London you can see Ricard (I hope) and me. :wave:

Andreas (Admin)

That will be more official than this one.

Anyone want to come to the Hollywood Bowl?

Construction on the new Bowl shell:

121703_bowlshell_3.jpgtopping1.jpgcloseup_canopy_installation2.jpginstalling_speaker_tower.jpg

Shells through time:

about_1929_bowl.jpgabout_current_shell.jpgabout_proposed_shell.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well finally I?m going to write down my thoughts on the weekend you read about in Neil?s review. I don?t want to be too redundant, so we?ll see how it goes.

I was actually very, very fortunate in the way my flights transpired on the way to Boston. I first took a plane from Grand Rapids, MI (on the west side of the state) to Detroit. Well, Grand Rapids was looking pretty dark as my parents and I had had a snack in the airport, thinking I had plenty of time to go. Suddenly, the boarding for my flight was announced. The pilot apparently wanted to take off before some bad storms hit, which I?m really thankful for, because had the plane been delayed, I would?ve missed my flight in Detroit, and then who knows if I would?ve made the concert that night. I was a little uneasy to see a bolt of lightning in the distance as we were lifting off, but the ride ended up being quite smooth. The flight to Boston from Detroit was also fine, and I was able to listen to most of PoA during it.

After arriving in Boston I made the mistake of taking a taxi rather than a much cheaper shuttle van to the hotel, but I got there without incident at around 4:30. After checking in and getting my key (I knew Neil had been there since the morning), I headed to the eleventh floor where I finally met Neil S. Bulk.

Neil . . . . where to begin? He is, in a nutshell, a riot. The wisecracks honestly don?t stop with this guy! It?s rapid-fire humor that can be difficult to keep up with if you?re not on your toes, but it never gets old. Neil?s a truly funny guy. More than that, he?s extremely generous, gracious, and personable, and we got along great. Finally, someone who whistles as much as me!

Not too long after my arrival, Renovia called to let us know they had arrived. We soon went to the lobby to meet them, and thus we first laid eyes on the lovely Miss Renovia McKinney. She was very polite and courteous, and actually a little less exuberant that I had expected, mainly because she wanted us to get a move on and not waste any time (and rightly so). As we ate at Uno?s everyone chatted and relaxed a bit, though as Neil mentioned, Ren was concerned about the time, which was a good thing. Pat, the art teacher Renovia had brought along was much cooler than I had expected; from what Ren had told us about Pat not looking forward to the trip (she didn?t know who Williams was), I was picturing a McGonagall-esque frump with her hair bun too tight. But she was the complete opposite, and she was really great to put up with all our fanatic tendencies. These two ladies were a lot of fun.

After getting to Symphony Hall, we walked back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the building, unsure about which side Williams was supposed to be dropped off at. Thankfully Diskobolus (Disk-uh-bole-us), our resident BSO insider, soon spotted us and we waited in front of the entrance Williams would supposedly use. It was just our group of five, which probably helped our chances of being approached by Mr. Williams. Sure enough, we soon saw BSO-1 pull up and I all of a sudden became really excited. Mr. Williams walked right up to us and very cordially signed autographs for each of us. I had brought the CD covers for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer?s Stone and Far and Away, two personal favorites, both of which he signed for me. He didn?t say much, just the occasional ?You?re welcome? to our heartfelt ?Thanks you?s. Neil was able to get a picture of me with Mr. Williams as you saw above, for which I?m so grateful. I felt bad that I wasn?t able to return the favor at one of the other potential Williams-meetings of the weekend, but I fully intend to do so in the future, and as Neil pointed out, this way he still has something to live for. ;)

After this huge thrill, we all headed to our seats. Symphony Hall was beautiful inside, and I sat in the second balcony, towards the back of the auditorium. I leaned on the railing in front of me for pretty much the whole concert in order to see better, and it was quite comfortable. I?ll go through some highlights of the concert:

Herrmann?s ?The Death Hunt? was amazing! It was a bold, frenzied, driven piece which featured fantastic horn parts. I loved hearing that aspect in particular because I play the horn, though I was forcefully reminded of how, er . . . inferior I am to these wonderful brass players. Williams had the horn section stand up for recognition after the piece which was nice.

After some more great Herrmann pieces came the ?Suite from Harry Potter.? This was probably what I was looking forward to most, and I was not disappointed. It was a dream to hear ?Fawkes the Phoenix? live, and the performance was very moving. ?Nimbus 2000? was enjoyable, but we all agreed afterwards that a full-orchestral rendition of the theme would?ve been much better. ?Harry?s Wondrous World,? the last HP piece, lived up to its name. This ended the first part of the program, and was a highlight for me.

Violinist Tamara Smirnova was the feature of the next section, and she played beautifully. The Far and Away piece was the arrangement from the Greatest Hits album, and was just gorgeous. I had now heard my two favorite themes (Far and Away and "Fawkes") performed live, and I was very satisfied. I also loved the Fiddler on the Roof suite, as did the rest of audience. The Henry Mancini selections were very enjoyable, and very light as Neil said. I especially enjoyed the festive ?Overture to a Pops Concert,? the medley featuring Peter Gunn, "Baby Elephant Walk," and The Pink Panther, the appropriately named ?Pennywhistle Jig,? and the always wonderful ?Moon River.? The encores, ?The Raiders March? and ?Flying? from E.T. were expected but a joy to hear. I made a quick exit once I was sure there would be no more encores, and hurried down to meet the other JWFans in front of the door from which Williams would hopefully emerge. Again, Diskobolus was a great help, keeping us very confident that we were in the right place. After about twenty minutes or so Williams did step out, but it was to tell us that he would not be able to sign anything as he was very tired after having been up since early that morning. But he thanked us for coming, and stepping out to acknowledge us at all wasn?t something he had to do, so we were grateful for what we got. Kudos to FoxFan for both congratulating Williams on the honorary degree he had received that morning, and mentioning that we were from JWFan.net and just wanted a group picture with him. After hearing that we would be there the next night, he suggested doing the photo then, so we were encouraged.

Following the concert was a night of fun as Pat, Renovia, Neil, and I went out. Fortunately, the other three were kind enough to find a place I could go to, being 19 (Thanks guys!). We had a great time at Bennigan?s, and then continued in the hotel?s lounge (that?s where the picture of Ren and Pat was taken; I supplied the flowers). Everyone really opened up. I?m sure the drinks had at least a little something to do with it. ;) Renovia became the person I had been expecting from knowing her online: not a major change, but she was very funny and less reserved. The same goes for Pat, and Neil was still Neil, except more so. :)

The next day was absolutely frigid as Neil said, and not too eventful up until the concert (Neil summed up the afternoon well). I must however, mention the differences between the girls? room and our room at the hotel. Apparently they were the same price, and Ren made the reservations twenty minutes after Neil, but somehow the girls got the freakin? Taj Mahal and we got the official hole-in-the-wall. Okay that?s a little exaggeration, but the difference really was staggering (their room was about 4-5 times larger than ours with many nicer features). Hopefully there will be pictures to show of this. Just to clarify, I?m not complaining, just noting.

Before the concert that night, the four of us perused the Symphony Shop, where I hoped to buy a nice souvenir. However, everything I liked (sweatshirt, mug, etc) said "Boston Pops: Conducted by Keith Lockhart," and I would?ve rather just had the name of the orchestra. I did end up buying a little French horn magnet and a CD called The Celtic Album by Lockhart and the Pops (it includes Braveheart but not Far and Away :wave: ), so I was satisfied. The only bad part was when Ren refused to buy me a huge French horn lamp, even though it cost less than she had spent on jewelry earlier that day :mrgreen:. After the shopping, we all gathered outside Symphony Hall like the night before. Strongbad was there, and it was nice to meet him. Unfortunately, several people not associated with our website were there as well. The large crowd, along with the obvious possibility of rain, was probably why Williams used a different entrance. Still, we looked forward to the show and hopefully meeting him after it.

This time I sat all the way on the right in the second balcony, seat A-1, so I was directly above the orchestra. It was a fantastic view, which will hopefully be clear in the photos I post tomorrow. The program for Saturday was somewhat the same as Friday, but without the Williams. It was still very enjoyable though, and the highlights of the new pieces for me were the Hitchcock/Herrmann collaborations. Psycho actually seemed a little lackluster, but it was not taken at a snail?s space as some re-recordings are, which was a plus. The montage of clips was just horrible; horrible in concept, horrible in editing, and horrible in execution. This last aspect is apparent in Neil?s mention of the technical difficulties. Williams of course handled this with grace, making the audience chuckle with his comment that this sort of thing always happens in Hollywood. ?Scene D?Amour? from Vertigo is a great romantic piece that was performed beautifully, and I enjoyed the ?Prelude? from North by Northwest. Again, however, the video accompaniment was unnecessary. The singers for the Mancini portion, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Monica Mancini, were very good. I especially enjoyed Ms. Mancini?s performance of ?Music on the Way,? a song based on music by her late father Henry Mancini that she performed to a montage of clips of Mancini and his family. The encores were ?Raiders? again, and ?The Stars and Stripes Forever? instead of E.T. Diskobolus and I had joked about screaming ?For the love of God, play Buckbeak!!!? but we were correct in assuming it was a lost cause.

Just like Friday night, I met the rest of the group outside the same door. Meeting John Takis was cool, and I really wish I had been able to say something to Trumpeteer (Jeff), especially since he sent me WoE last year and I wanted to thank him in person. But with the large group of people it didn?t happen. We waited for an even longer time, until we were told that Mr. Williams had had a long two days and was too tired to make an appearance. I wish he had been able to get a group picture with us, but I was thankful for what we had already gotten, which is more than anyone could?ve hoped for. Riding through the hectic streets of Boston with Neil and Diskobolus in John Takis? car was definitely an experience :P;) (the ride is much appreciated, John!). Going out this time was especially great because we were joined by Diskobolus, John Takis, and Maren, a nice young woman Ren met in the hotel (though we did miss Pat ? please tell her we had a great time with her, Ren!). Again, we continued later in the hotel lounge, sans John Takis, whose parking garage closed at 1:00. Finally, Diskobolus, Ren, Neil and I went up to our room where we just had more fun talking and laughing. Diskobolus was chiefly responsible for keeping us up so long. And I have to say that he and I got on very well. We?re the same age, and had fun hearing about each others? college experiences. We were also able to continue in person the ?JNH?s Peter Pan? thread, which had long ago turned into basically a chat between the two of us LOL. Anyway, I?m very glad he encouraged us all to stay up for so long. Even though I was completely exhausted, I can sleep anytime, and wanted to make the most of my last night with these wonderful people.

Sunday was definitely bittersweet. We had parted ways with Renovia the night before, and after breakfast we lost another as Neil and I said goodbye to Diskobolus outside of the subway. Finally, Neil and I separated at the airport, and the Official Boston JWFan Meeting ended. I got pretty sad sitting alone in the airport, missing everyone already. But I was also so happy to have been able to meet everyone and have such a great weekend. I wouldn?t have thought so before the trip, but now I wholeheartedly believe that this must become an annual event, hopefully adding more members each time.

Thanks for reading, and here?s to future Official JWFan Meetings. beerchug

Ray Barnsbury

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds fishy to me.... the stories fit well. Too well, if you ask me. That leads me to the only logical conclusion- they weren't at the concert at all, they just made up this whole story to make us feel jealous and to make them look popular. The pictures were doctored. THE JIG IS UP! :mrgreen::wave:

You lucky explitive deleteds. If you're gonna stick our faces into it, at least GIVE US MORE PICTURES!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kudos to FoxFan for both congratulating Williams on the honorary degree he had received that morning, and mentioning that we were from JWFan.net and just wanted a group picture with him.

Thanks for the acknowledgement but I wasn't the one that brought up the honorary doctorate thing. I just took it a step further and told him how worried I was that he couldn't make it back in time for the concert. I did tell him that we were from JWfan.net and asked for a group photo though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OH MAN!

That sounded like SO much fun! :mrgreen:

How much did the whole event set each of you back? I'd want to know the ballpark of what I would need to save to plan one in the future. Like I said in a previous post... given enough time to plan one, KM and myself, and maybe my fiance would like to attend a similar concert. :wave:

"Ray" and "Diskobolus" vocalized an interesting phenomenom that I also experienced in Philadelphia last year.  What happens is, Williams starts conducting "The Raiders March".  While any Williams fan can name that tune in 1 note, it takes the rest of the audience about 10 seconds to realize what is actually being played, to which they burst out in applause, while the piece is being played.  Its nice that they eventually recognize the music and enjoy it, but I'd rather hear the music and not the sound of 10,000 hands clapping.  I can hear that afterwords.  The same thing happened with "Flying" from E.T., the second encore of the evening.  Williams does his best to settle down the audience.  I think a random execution would work better though.

In a post of very funny moments... I found this one exceedingly entertaining! LOL!!! I always noticed that on TV myself.

By the way... although the pics that I saw are great... the page stops loading and doesn't show them all. Either my settings are off, the site isn't doing something right, or my connection is terrible (well, that goes without saying).

Hey, maybe Ricard would be kind enough to post the pics on the main site? He's done that in the past, I remember! :P

-Chris, Who seriously needs to go to one of these get-togethers....

PS- Takis was there?? ARRGH! Tell him to email me because he forgot about some CDs he owed me in a trade!! ;):):D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How much did the whole event set each of you back? I'd want to know the ballpark of what I would need to save to plan one in the future.

The hotel, which I split with "Ray", cost us each $117. The tickets to 2 concerts were about $80 or so for me. I flew to Boston and that was $100. Other than that, it was just food and drinks. I bought clothes for the trip, but since I can still wear them, I'm not factoring them into this total. Considering all the fun I had and wonderful memories and the great relationships made, this was really a bargain.

Neil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole weekend didn't set me back too much. I have friends in Boston, so I stayed with them, thus avoiding hotel charges. The two tickets for the show were $86 (first balcony) and my plane ticket was about $260. Adding in food, and I didn't go over $400. A lot of money for one weekend, but so worth it.

Ray, I TOTALLY forgot that I had given you the WoE CD. That seems like eons ago. I also wished I had talked more with everyone, but I was so nervous my brain wasn't doing well at forming whole sentences. But you're very welcome for the CD again, and I hope we meet again (next year in Boston?).

Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well now I feel like a goober, I live 30 minutes outside of Boston, I should have bought tickets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.